Extracts from the book "The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna" by 'M'ahendranath Gupta (conversations between Sri Ramakrishna, the Master, and his disciples / devotees)
O Mother, I have no one else to blame:
Entanglement of householders
Speaking of householders entangled in worldliness,
the Master said: "They are like the silk-worm. They can come out of
the cocoon of their worldly life if they wish. But they can't bear to;
for they themselves have built the cocoon with great love and care. So
they die there. Or they are like the fish in a trap. They can come
out of it by the way they entered, but they sport inside the trap with other
fish and hear the sweet sound of the murmuring water and forget everything
else. They don't even make an effort to free themselves from the
trap. The lisping of children is the murmur of the water; and the other
fish are relatives and friends. Only one or two make good their escape by
running away. They are the liberated souls."
Worldly people’s lack perseverance
Then, addressing the devotees, Sri
Ramakrishna said: "The spiritual wisdom of worldly people is seen only on
rare occasions. It is like the flame of a candle. No, it is rather
like a single ray of the sun passing through a chink in a wall. Worldly
people chant the name of God, but there is no zeal behind it. It is like
children's swearing by God, having learnt the word from the quarrels of their
aunts.”
"Worldly people have no grit. If
they succeed in an undertaking, it is all right, but if they don't succeed, it
scarcely bothers them at all. When they need water, they begin to dig a
well. But as soon as they strike a stone, they give up digging there and
begin at another place. Perhaps they come to a bed of sand. Finding
nothing but sand, they give that place up too. How can they succeed in
getting water unless they continue to dig persistently where they started?”
"Man reaps the harvest of his own past
actions. Hence you read in the song:
O Mother, I have no one else to blame:
Alas!
I sink in the well these very hands have dug.
" 'I' and 'mine'-that is
ignorance. By discriminating you will realize that what you call 'I' is
really nothing but Ātman. Reason it out. Are you the body or the
flesh or something else? At the end you will know that you are none of
these. You are free from attributes. Then you will realize that you
have never been the doer of any action, that you have been free from virtue and
faults alike, that you are beyond righteousness and unrighteousness.”
"From ignorance a man says, 'This is
gold and this is brass.' But a man of Knowledge says, 'It is all gold.'
"Reasoning stops when one sees
God. But there are instances of people who have realized God and who
still continue to reason. Again, there are people who, even after having
seen God, chant His name with devotion and sing His glories.”
"How long does a child cry? So long as
it is not sucking at its mother's breast. As soon as it is nursed it
stops crying. Then the child feels only joy. Joyously it drinks the
milk from its mother's breast. But it is also true that, while drinking,
the child sometimes plays and laughs.”
"It is God alone who has become
everything. But in man He manifests Himself the most. God is
directly present in the man who has the pure heart of a child and who laughs
and cries and dances and sings in divine ecstasy."
Solitude for householders
"Even if one lives in the world, one
must go into solitude now and then. It will be of great help to a man if he
goes away from his family, lives alone, and weeps for God even for three
days. Even if he thinks of God for one day in solitude, when he has the
leisure, that too will do him good. People shed a whole jug of tears for
wife and children. But who cries for the Lord? Now and then one must go
into solitude and practise spiritual discipline to realize God. Living in
the world and entangled in many of its duties, the aspirant, during the first
stage of spiritual life, finds many obstacles in the path of
concentration. While the trees on the foot-path are young, they must he
fenced around; otherwise they will be destroyed by cattle. The fence is necessary
when the tree is young, but it can be taken away when the trunk is thick and
strong. Then the tree won't be hurt even if an elephant is tied to
it. “
Malady of worldly people and its cure
"The disease of worldliness is like
typhoid. And there are a huge jug of water and a jar of savoury pickles
in the typhoid patient's room. If you want to cure him of his illness,
you must remove him from that room. The worldly man is like the typhoid
patient. The various objects of enjoyment are the huge jug of water, and
the craving for their enjoyment is his thirst. The very thought of
pickles makes the mouth water; you don't have to bring them near. And he
is surrounded with them. The companionship of woman is the pickles.
Hence treatment in solitude is necessary.
"One may enter the world after attaining
discrimination and dispassion. In the ocean of the world there are six
alligators: lust, anger, and so forth. But you need not fear the
alligators if you smear your body with turmeric before you go into the
water. Discrimination and dispassion are the turmeric.
Discrimination is the knowledge of what is real and what is unreal. It is
the realization that God alone is the real and eternal Substance and that all
else is unreal, transitory, impermanent. And you must cultivate intense
zeal for God. You must feel love for Him and be attracted to Him. The
gopis of Vrindāvan felt the attraction of Krishna.“
Sri Ramakrishna Web Site - belurmath.org
Sri Ramakrishna Web Site - belurmath.org
